Reclaimed Oil Sands Exploration sites Alberta - Carbon Flux and Environmental Variables

Two oil sands exploration (OSE) sites were studied: a site reclaimed in 2009 (old) and a site reclaimed in 2012 (new). A natural site was also studied (NAT). Plots were named as follows, based on management technique at the OSE sites: control with no reclamation technique (C), wet control (C-w), coarse woody debris additions (CWD), mechanical mounding and planting trees, mound (M-m), mechanical mounding and planting trees, pool (M-p), planting trees only (PAI). Carbon dioxide and methane flux measurements made between May and September of 2017 and 2018 using the closed chamber method. Measurements for water table depth (WT - negative means depth below the surface) and soil temperature at 2 cm depth (T2) to 20 cm depth (T20) were made adjacent to each flux plot at the time of a carbon dioxide or methane measurement. GEP (gross ecosystem productivity) is the difference between NEE (net ecosystem exchange) and ER (ecosystem respiration), and negative GEP and NEE values represent a sink of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to the soil. PAR is photosynthetically active radiation. Plot vegetation cover was measured in August. Water table, temperature at 5 cm depth, and PAR were logged during the study period using sensors. Tree quadrats were located in the vicinity of the carbon flux plots.